Chapter Eighty-Eight
From Near and Far

Somewhere among the white walls and white floors of the Saint Bernard Hospital, two canidae waited patiently and silently for any signs of life or movement on the part of the lagomorph, who lay sleeping, her mind and body exhausted by physical and mental tribulations. Both sat silently — one gazing blankly at the equally blank wall; the other looking slowly around the room, at the motionless lump of the rabbit and the equipment beeping softly beside her.

Another long minute ticked by; Wolfard decided he couldn't let the fox sit there like that a moment longer. He cleared his throat, softly, just to see if he could bring the fox out of his trance. Wilde's ear flicked and he blinked, shaking his head a little as he did so as though his vision were misted.

"I'm sorry," Nick dryly said without conviction or energy, "this is a heck of a dull time for you. Not feeling much up for being good company right now."

The wolf thought quietly for a few moments so that a neutral answer could sprung forth. "Someone has to keep an eye on you, Nick. I've no objection to that being me."

The fox looked around slowly, looking upon the wolf's expression, his tentative smile and simmering concern. "I don't need watching over. I've been through worse before. My— my, ughh…" the fox raised his paw and scratched at the back of his neck, doubt entering his mind for a moment before he pushed on… "My last girlfriend, she went out, she was… killed; attacked, like Hoppsie was."

Wolfard flinched. "I'm sorry, Wilde— god, I'm… so this must really be difficult for you. You know what it's like, you know how little—"

"How little it takes to lose a loved one? Yeah, I know. If you've got someone you care about, don't ever start taking them for granted, don't ever just expect them to always be there. You have no idea how quickly your life can turn to shit. You've no idea how little it takes to kill someone."

Jim took the fox's words deep in, watching him as he leaned forwards, his elbow propped on his knees as he stared down at the floor, his up-beat voice arid and toneless.

"Doesn't matter who you are. Doesn't matter what you're doing. Death can come to you, just come to you instantly. There's no letter in the post, no 'at your earliest convenience'. It just happens… I know. I've talked to people who've died the next day before; died in a fight, a car accident, shot down by cops… different times back then, the PD wasn't what it's like now."

"I'm guessing that was back when you were with your... 'crime' group you were with? That gang?"

"I…" clearing his throat, the fox glanced towards the door, checking that no one was outside or about to come in. "I met a lot of murderers, shook paws with some of them. Nice people on the whole, on the outside anyway. I preferred to stay away from the 'violent' side of things, turned more towards intelligence. When you kill someone, you destroy more than the person… you wreck the lives of everyone who cares about them, their parents, their children, their partner."

"Innocent people who didn't deserve being torn apart. Yeah, I get you. Huh. So what were they known as, this gang of yours?" The fox didn't react, but for the twitching of an ear. "Nick?" Turning to the wolf, the fox flashed a weak smile towards him, his yes fully apologetic. His meaning clicked in the wolf's mind; he nodded and didn't push for more.

"So…you got a 'special someone'?"

The wolf choked a little on his own saliva. "Erh, can I take out the 'sorry-I'm-not-answering smile' option too?"

Nick chuckled. "You can, sure you can," he shrugged. "I wouldn't judge you, whatever you say. Just, I didn't tell you because there's a chance you could land me in jail if you did…"

Wolfard's brows furrowed, but they cleared after a moment as he decided to drop that line. "I… 'do' have a special someone, she's interesting, intelligent, funny— well, in her own way. She's a bit of a… well, I'm not even sure, really. I don't really know how much I should say, we haven't been together long."

"A wolf, or…?"

"Erh," he said, mildly, "a hare, artic hare."

The fox's eyes widened, a sly grin he hadn't worn for too long spreading on his face. "The Nurse?"

"I asked her out yesterday— blabbed at her, really… not long before she went to examine Ju—"

The wolf paused as the monotonous beeping across the room increased its pace, a soft groan emerging from the rabbit's bed, as the lump moved, the soft groan rising to a low moan that didn't sound like a pleasant waking-up.

Wolfard stood, feeling very useless as Nick shot over to the bedside to try to calm Judy's nerves.

Judy's eyes opened with a sensation of white noise and nauseating movement around her, the whole room feeling as though it was spinning. There was a pressure on her arm, an unnatural scent, a sharpness of cold, a large, white wolf by the foot of her bed.

She tugged her arm away, away from the paw of the fox trying to reassure her, and tried to heave herself up beneath the sheets to a ripple of hot pain searing through her at the agitation of her wounds.

Her teeth grating, her eyes shut tight; she forced them to open again, her eyes seeking for the white wolf, and finding…

A beige-gray timber wolf was at the end of her bed, watching with a panicked expression, as the fox at Judy's side tried to get her attention. Hopps glanced towards him, but then locked back at Wolfard, her mind buzzing with confusion about the stuff she had seen, or thought she had at least seen.

Trying to find some way to be useful, Wolfard moved to the door and pushed it open, stepping out a second later to search for a nurse who could come and help.

Judy's face relaxed a shade as the door drew itself closed, her face now becoming exhausted and deeply pained as she turned towards the fox. "Judy," he said. "Judy, you okay, sweetheart?" The rabbit tried to raise her free paw to the stinging in her head, but winced as she tried to bend her broken wrist. Then she pulled her other paw from Nick's and reached for the cast around her breakage, trying to sooth it and wanting to rip it away.

Her head fell softly against the pillow, her expression tightening around her eyes as she moved, thus, the motion enflamed the damage to her spine, even with her neck brace — a wave of sharpness and heat soothed down her back and into all four limbs.

Knelt beside the head of her bed, the fox watched, his expression downcast and pathetic with a look of disgust about himself — self-disgust, for how useless and pointless his presence there was, how little aid he could give her. Slowly, his head fell in his lap, and he rested his brow against the cold, metal side of the bed.

His partner — at work, in life, in love — and he could do nothing.

"I'm sorry, Carrots," he murmured to himself. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there… it should've been me, not you… I'm nothing without you, you never deserved this, it should've been me…"

"Nick." Her voice was dry and pained, her tones of joy and innocence extinguished in quietness. The fox perked up instantly, looking intently up towards the pale face of his lover. "I'd turn to look at you, but I don't think my brace would allow it. Stand up, let me see you."

The fox pushed himself to stand upright hurriedly, ready to do whatever his Judy wanted and as soon as his Judy wanted it; hence, he hung over the rabbit's head. A small grin appeared on the rabbit's cheeks; a sad little smile grew on the fox's own. "Hey, Nicky…" her good paw reaching slowly out, shaking just a little as it rose into the air. The rabbit took the fox by the shoulder, and lowered him down towards her, while lowering her lids and pouting her lips just a little to a short kiss.

"You keep asking me how I am," she said softly once the kiss had ended, the fox slipping his fingers between hers. "I've got a whole medical unit watching over me. What about you? How's my partner been?"

"I've been… I've pulled through, Carrots. I'm okay."

"And these bandages on your paw?"

Nick sighed as he looked towards his compassionate lover and the thumb of the paw holding his that was touching upon the bandages Bogo had put on there, after Nick had punched and smashed his unwanted reflection. "This was… just an accident, Hopps."

Pulling gently on the fox's paw, the rabbit lowered him until his nose touched gently, tentatively against the end of her muzzle. "Don't beat yourself up over me, sweetheart," she said, her eyes barely open. "Don't put yourself though that, I… I can't bear the thought, can't allow that to happen."

"I won't, Judy. I won't, I promise."

"Is anyone taking care of you?"

"Yeah, erh… Bogo, actually, he took me in for the night."

"He did?" After a few moments taking it in, the rabbit chuckled, softly. "That tough old softy. How has he been, has he been okay with you? Oh, how—" Becoming more alert suddenly, the rabbit tried to sit up in bed, but stopped herself in time. "How did your thing with Finnick go?"

"W— well, I'm not sure, Carrots. I'm not sure what's going on."

"What happened, Nick, what did he say?"

The fox glanced uncomfortably from the rabbit's gaze to the floor. "You said you didn't want to know anything about what had happened."

"Only if it went well. If something's gone wrong, Nick," she justified, a tone of her old strength returning, "then I need you to tell me."

His breath bated… the fox took in the rabbit's firm, self-assured expression and his hopes rose at seeing the spark still there. "Bogo came in at an… inopportune moment, saw Finnick and I… took me up to his office, started ripping into me over these 'suspicions' he was being legally obligated to look into. During the night, he… when he thought I was sleeping, he phoned up Claw and asked him to break into Storage and get all the files on 'The Firm' he could find."

"You… you're saying he's on to you? But how, there's nothing—"

"Finnick mentioned my 'involvement' with The Firm. In case he was going to be difficult or go back on his word or something. I had put the recorder behind the one-way-mirror so I'd have at least some kind of insurance against him double-crossing me. But I didn't get a chance to shut it off or retrieve the film, because Bogo dragged me straight up to his office and didn't take his eyes off me. When he dropped me off, he just told me he wants to talk to me. Not sure if he's gonna fire me, or imprison me, or…"

Judy squinted, trying to arrange her thoughts into line, a pulsating pain growing in her head. She raised her paw again — but this time raised her un-broken one — up to her forehead to rub at the bandages. She hissed sharply, her eyes shutting tight and her paw becoming a fist as a blooming of blood appeared on the white of the bandage.

"Ah crap," said Nick, standing, the rabbit's breaths deepening. "Don't panic, Carrots, I'll go get—"

The door pushed open and Wolfard stepped in. "I called Flo," he said, "she's now coming down the hall." He came inside and held the door open, the tall hare stepping within and making directly for the rabbit beneath the white sheets. She spotted the fresh patch of red on the bandage over Judy's head and sighing softly.

"I must ask you to take care when touching your head, Judy. You have to limit your movements as much as possible while the skin heals."

"Can't you give her anything?" Nick asked, his voice on the edge of begging. "She's clearly in a lot of pain."

"I'm sorry, Nick, we've already given her the maximum recommended dose. I could give her more, a stronger dose, but it would knock her out completely. I don't feel like having her unconscious again is the best way to proceeded."

"Is there anything you can do for her?" he said, turning back towards the rabbit, her eyes shut tight with her arm now just dangling beside her. "She's bleeding for fluff's sake!"

"Again, I am sorry, truly I am. We've given her stitches and bandaged her as well as we can. But she did receive some rather deep wounds to her cranium and will weep fairly often as they heal. In the meantime… Judy, Doctor Dasse has made an appointment for you to have another CT scan. If you have no objections, I will take you there now."

"So quickly?" Wolfard asked.

"Miss Hopps' condition is still a worry. He wants to check if the depression to the skull has not complicated at all and that the plates are all aligned after the surgery. He's pushed her through with emergency-clearance."

"Does she need anything done?" Nick asked, cautiously.

"No preparation is necessary," Flo said. "Judy, are you ready?"

The rabbit didn't open her eyes. "Yeah, I'm…" she managed.

Moving towards the bed, the hare pushed down with her foot onto the bed's brake release. "If you two wouldn't mind giving me a paw," she said, taking the metal rail at the foot of the bed and slowly pulling the piece of medical furniture towards the door.

The fox and the wolf fell in behind her, both taking one of the back corners of the bed — Nick leaning down towards Judy a little and whispering towards her: "Hopps, hey Carrots, you with us?" The fox didn't get a response from the rabbit, and looked up the hare with fear in his voice. "She's out cold, Nurse, is she going to be okay?"

"She is physically and emotionally exhausted, Nick," Flo said over her shoulder. "Provided there's no complications with her skull fracture, she just needs a lot, and a lot of rest."

As they went further down the corridor, the Nurse instructed a few other nurses to help them push the medical bed along the way. They turned a corner and made to a lift at the end of the room. At the doors of the lift, Rose stopped and turned to the two canids.

"I apologize, but I cannot allow you to come into the CT scan with us. You will have to wait in the waiting room, while she's examined and while the results are processed. Nurse Perry will show you the way."

"Okay," Nick said, "okay, just— let her know I'm here if she needs me when she comes around, okay?"

"I will," Nurse Flo nodded before turning to Wolfard. "See you soon." The wolf smiled at his newly acquired 'interest'; the door of the large elevator sliding closed between them.

…

Zootopia's current chief of police drove through the city streets, his expression grim, the interior of his massive vehicle silent. The large engine rumbled, the city outside was alive with the goings-on of life, but between the cold glares of the rabbits in the back seat, and the strain on his psyche, the interior was objectively silent.

Bogo glanced up again to his rear-view mirror, the steely glare of the motherly doe still upon him. He sighed to himself, his shoulder slumping as he pulled up at a red traffic light. "Mrs Hopps, look, I'm sorry for snapping at you."

"I don't care if you snap at me. You snap at me all you want. It's what you did to my Judy that's got me riled."

"Under the circumstances," he said, patiently, "under the situation and the status of the… damn it, of the 'attack' on the Precinct One PD, sending Officer Hopps in there seemed like the best idea. It was that or let a shipload of criminals escape to come back and sell more of their illegal substance on the market. If I'd had any indication she was going to—"

"But you didn't even try to help her! Why couldn't more of you go—"

"We were on our way to the harbor that very moment, but a mammle connected to the criminal organization arrived at the HQ, just before we were about to leave, and held us all up."

"So you sent Judy in there alone? That was your 'master plan' of dealing with it? Send one lone officer, my daughter, into—"

"She wasn't alone!" Bogo shot, filling the large car with the volume of his voice, to which the rabbits in the back seat moved slightly into the cushions, their noses twitching. Bogo huffed. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Mrs Hopps, I'm just… under a damn lot of stress right now. My best officer hospitalized, my other best officer traumatized, Jack on the verge of expiring."

"Your 'best' officer? Who, Judy?

"I'm… yes," he said, wretchedly, "I was putting in place steps for her to be promoted to Detective Inspector. Maybe even to take over from me some day."

"Gosh. My little Judy? Really?"

Bogo glanced over his shoulder towards her, grinding the clutch with simmering, dejected ire. "Don't get your hopes up. It'll be several months at least before Hopps is even ready to return to paperwork duty. There's a strong chance I may not even still be chief come that time. And that's if she even still wants to be an officer when she's healed up."

Her ears lowering, the ever-empathetic mother started to see the Chief's position; even started to appreciate his position for what it was. She drew a slow breath, and made a very motherly observation. "It was very silly of you to lose your temper like that. You don't get anywhere cussing at folks."

"At Wright? Ugh, it doesn't even matter. It won't change anything. She's had it in for me since the start."

"She's been briefed to find you inadequate," the doe stated.

"No, you misunderstand. Surveyors are never told to find someone inadequate, that's against regulation."

"Regulation is one thing, real-life practice is another. We both know that, hon."

"Yes… yes, it is." Bogo sent the bunny a furrow-browed expression through the rear view mirror. "Just who are you? How do you know the ins and outs of government practice like this?"

Bonnie leaned back into her seat, turning out towards the window with her open and honest face. "I worked in Zootopia's government at one time, way back when."

"You never said us that, Ma!" Billy said in shock.

"It was only for a short time, honey," she said to her son, turning back to Bogo. "I spent a couple of months over in I-AD."

"The Internal Affairs Department, yes. You worked 'in' Admin Tower?"

"No, one of the buildings close by. It was just connected to the Ringroad."

"Being employed to work in the actual Ringroad around Admin Tower is still no small feat," Bogo said, openly. "What did you do there?"

"Ohh, I can't remember the exact title, hon. Some Under-Surveyor's assistant or something. I was basically an observer for an Assistant Surveyor. Nothing like the Surveyor Director you have looking over your shoulder right now, but something like that. I basically had to make sure they were doing everything above board, submitting genuine evidence, things like that."

"Why haven't you said any of this, Mam?" asked Billy. "I never knew you'd been in proper education?"

"Oh, I actually did study law and stuff for quite a few years, sweetie. I was quite hot on it at one point. But that was all a long time ago now, hon. I didn't like 'the city' in the end. I'm just your run-of-the-mill country hick nowadays," she added, a cheerful smile on her face.

"What happened?" Bogo asked, turning the car onto a main road.

Her smile faded. A moment from the past brought her mind sharply around to the more important matter of the current present. "It doesn't matter," she said, "I want to know what did to my Judy. You were about to tell me how you 'didn't' send her alone into that place?"

His trepidation on speaking openly about the involvement of the jackrabbit as prominent as ever, the Chief gazed for a long moment up at the majesty of Zootopia's skyline. "Where to start from… where to start..."

"As much of a sweetheart as she is," Bonnie said, kindly, "Judy's none too good at keeping us up-to-date on the things going on around here. Just start from whatever the start is, it's not like I don't have a personal interest."

"I'm sorry, he said, I can't right now."

"Mom didn't ask for excuses," Billy said, tightly. "Now, you tell her what she asked to know!"

"Young Master Hopps, we're almost at the hospital and your mother will, I'm sure, be more interested in seeing her daughter than listen to a half-hour lecture from me about everything that's happened these past few days. Also, there's another mammle I need to check in on: The other victim of last night's attack."

"Jack?" Bonnie cleared her throat at the Chief's startled expression. "Don't worry, honey, I'm not a spy, really. I just heard you mention his name is all. All those years of trying to keep up in the moment with a couple hundred kids, you learn to pick things up. You said it was him who went in with Judy?"

"Yeah, his name's Jack."

"How is he?"

"Keeping him alive is going to be a struggle, from what I can tell. He lost a lot of blood, a major-concern lot-of-blood."

"Was he another one of your officers?"

"No, he…" Bogo chuckled dryly, his speech now mostly to himself. "Hadn't thought of it like that. Turns out I'm not as terrible of a Chief as I thought. Turns out I made one right decision, at least." Bogo glanced over his shoulder to Bonnie. "I wanted Jack to stay close to Judy, wanted him keeping an eye on her in case the gang hit against her. Turns out it saved her life, saved the partnership of the damn-most-promising officers I've ever seen."

"Uh," Billy said, "you're not talking about that... that fox she keeps hoking 'round with."

"Separated, both Officer Hopps and Officer Wilde are extremely competent and respectable officers of the law. Wilde is a little sloppy, sometimes borders on lazy, but damn it he's the sharpest bloody officer on the force with more street smarts than half the rest of the officers combined. Hopps is the most dedicated, most good-obsessed paladin of justice I've encountered, and will diligently, and sometimes ruthlessly, peruse justice against any odds, any obstacles and against any danger. That's why I need them both. Wilde alone is too sloppy; with Hopps, he becomes as dedicated as she is, perhaps more so. Hopps throws herself into danger without a thought for herself; Wilde is needed to remind her she does have her limits. He does need to take time to relax, and her integrity doesn't deflect bullets."

"They do sound like they make a pretty perfect team."

"They're a bloody perfect couple," the Chief snickered.

"Perfect 'what'?"

"Eh, work couple, couple of officers," Bogo corrected. "Look, erm, we're now here. I'll pull over just by the gates, you two hop out. I mean, not hop as in, erghh… just, I'll go and park."

The Chief pulled the car over to a stop by the front entrance, and the two rabbits in the back, indeed, 'hopped' down from the tall height of the large car, consequently, taking their way across to the doorway as Bogo revved the engine and maneuvered the car to the parking bays.

Author's notes:

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